The timeworn synagogue of Alqosh, nestled at the base of the Bayhidhra Mountains in the governorate of Nineveh, is one of Iraq’s few remaining Jewish houses of prayer. Vegetation has reclaimed the courtyard, and the outbuildings have been repurposed as rubbish tips, but inside the structure, amidst an array of rough-hewn ogival arches, rests the synagogue’s claim to fame — the 2,700-year-old plaster sarcophagus of the prophet Nahum the Elkoshite, comfortably ensconced beneath a green hand-sewn cloth. It was Nahum who famously predicted the fall of waning Assyria to waxing Babylon, in lyrics that still resonate in the war-torn region: And as for Nineveh, her waters are like a great pool, but...
↧